For Immediate Release

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018

Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Swasey Central School Students and Parents Participate in Hour of Code

BRENTWOOD — Swasey Central School students and parents came together for a unique learning opportunity last week as they participated in an Hour of Code event.

Celebrated annually, the Hour of Code is part of Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 3-9, and inspires children to nurture critical thinking, logic and creativity in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM).

For the first time, Swasey School parents were invited to join students in the school’s new STEAM Design Lab for a series of activities.

The STEAM Design Lab, which is overseen by teacher Lisa Brown, adheres to the Next Generation Science Standards and New Hampshire’s Computer Science Standards. It encourages students to think like an engineer, incorporating hands-on learning as well as the integration of Chromebooks, iPads and robots for creative and collaborative work.

“It was amazing to watch as students and parents shared struggles, solutions and successes,” Brown said. “We were very excited to open our lab to parents as we continue to inspire the next generation of collaborators, coders and innovators.”

Kindergarten and first grade students began their lessons with “unplugged” activities, which allowed them to create algorithms or identify events using paper and pencil.  They then transferred their learning to iPads and worked with Kodable and Daisy the Dinosaur apps.

Students in second through fifth grades used programs available on the Code.org — a nonprofit organization focused on expanding participation in computer science — including Dance Party, Minecraft and Angry Birds. Children sat side by side with parents problem solving and creating.

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